the panther and the flower
by Picup
Summary: A companion piece to full moon's wish; a LL! AU that takes place within the Noragami Universe. Maki finds herself caught in between Eli and another God's 'war' and ends up with conflicting feelings of protecting her Master. She befriends another Shinki that helps her relax and rekindle her loyalty for her Master.


Thank you for the kind reviews and likes and follows and all the sort! Here's the spiritual sequel that I mentioned at the end of full moon's wish! I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

All around her is fire.

In this strange realm that she comes to know as the afterlife, she spends the majority of her time drifting around. Around her, spirits whisper and talk to each other as if they were alive, speaking of Gods who would give them a name and a purpose, speaking of corrupted spirits that possess and lead them to demise.

She does not care. Even if she were alive, her gut feeling tells her she wouldn't care... That's just how it went for her.

However, when she finds herself amongst the fire and screams of the other spirits, she finds herself to care _a little_.

Covering her mouth with the sleeve of her yukata, she stays as close to the ground as she can, searching for anyone that she can possibly save. Violet eyes narrow slightly through the smoke and she brushes back a loose lock of red hair as she spots a hand on the ground.

Maybe... _Maybe_...

When she reaches out to take hold of the hand, a foot stomps down when her fingers grazes the tips. Her eyes widen and she looks up to who the foot belongs to. A girl with wavy, bright brown hair stares down at her with a sweet, sick smile on her face.

"Oh, it looks like one survived."

Her voice is sweet, almost delicate... But is laced with malice and all intentions of killing her. She's frozen with fear and almost thinks that maybe she shouldn't have cared and just stayed away from everything.

"Anju."

A voice speaks out before the girl—Anju, can do anything. Her eyes move away, over Anju's shoulders, and she sees another girl, with ruby red eyes and black hair that just barely passes her shoulder, staring at her with a cold look.

* * *

Maki's eyes slowly open and a soft groan passes her lips as light floods into her vision. She stays still for a few minutes, taking in her surroundings. Her ears are perk, and twitch slightly when they hear a soft snore and murmurs of 'chocolate' and some other nonsense coming from the other side of the room.

She is in Eli's room, specifically on Eli's couch.

When Maki sits up, the blanket that is draped around her pools at her lap, and she stares at it. A hint of a smile is on the red head's face, Nozomi must have put this on her when she passed out on her Master's couch last night. Memory of the night before hits her, and she stares over at the table where they were discussing possible storm creations or vent openings. The maps and books were neatly rolled up and placed on the side.

A wry grin settles on her face-Eli really is useless without Nozomi.

Her mind leads to how she fell asleep, and what she dreamt about... And a heavy sigh escapes her lips now as she rubs the back of her neck.

Maybe a visit to Kotori and Umi's place wouldn't be a bad idea today.

* * *

When Maki arrives at Kotori's home, she spots three small children playing around the area. They hear her approaching them, and look at her in almost fear. She slowly raises her hands up, indicating that she is alone, and after a hesitant exchange of looks, they go back to whatever game they were playing.

The red head slowly approaches the door, and knocks on it twice before opening it. "Umi? Kotori-sama?" She calls out.

"Maki?"

Umi greets her with a slight surprised look on her face but gestures for her to come in. Maki bows her head in slight apology as she walks into Kotori's home, closing the door gently behind her. Umi is cleaning up her and Kotori's lunch, and Maki doesn't see the ashen-gray haired God anywhere—figuring that she must be in another room sewing.

Umi finishes cleaning up rather quickly and sets some tea down for her at the table. The two sit in a comfortable silence.

"... How is everything with Eli?" Umi starts as she stares at the red head in front of her with a soft smile.

Maki sips her tea graciously. "The same as usual."

She places the cup down and sighs a little, "I think she's lucky to have found Nozomi. She would be a mess otherwise since you aren't around either." She grumbles, thinking about the period in between Umi leaving and Nozomi becoming Eli's _assistant_.

Umi laughs quietly, "That would be Eli. I'm glad that Nozomi-san fits in, especially if you're okay with her by Eli's side."

Maki glares at the blue haired shinki in response, and just mumbles her annoyance to herself as she drinks her tea again. The silence settles between the two, and Maki finds her eyes towards the door, where the kids from earlier were playing outside.

She finds herself asking, "... How about Nico?"

Nico was known as a God of Death before—rumours circulated that she was born from the wish to kill. Nowadays, she claims herself as a God of Fortune—although Maki would say she was closer to a God of _Poverty_ with the amount of money she had.

Due to some events of the past, Eli absolutely hated Nico. Maki herself didn't know the details, but all she knows is that Eli wasn't the only one who hated Nico. The other combat shinki also had something against Nico.

This makes it extremely awkward for Maki because she knows she owes Nico her life as much as she owes Eli. If Nico didn't call that stray off that day, she would have...

Umi's chuckle pulls Maki out of her thoughts and the red head stares at the blue haired shinki. "Nico is fine. She recently acquired a second shinki."

Maki raises a brow in surprise, "A _second_ one? I thought Nico complained about Rin already being more than enough for her to handle?" She asks, slightly surprised to hear about the second shinki. Maki has met head to head against Nico and Rin before (many times actually), and there was never no clear victor between them... But she knows Rin is a powerful shinki... So to own a second one catches her off guard.

"She has." Umi starts with a small smile as she drinks her tea, "But the second shinki she has... belongs with them."

Maki raises a brow again, but doesn't ask.

* * *

On her off days, when she's not at Eli's side (which is often now because Nozomi insists that Maki doesn't need to be attached to Eli's hip with her around), Maki enjoys lying down and taking in the sun. It makes her feel a bit lazy and almost wanting to nap... But she refuses stoop down to Honoka's level, so she ends up just watching the clouds drift by.

She often doesn't stay in their shrine, the amount of shinki around (much to Maki's chagrin) and the hustle and bustle doesn't help her relax. So she finds herself out in open fields or grassy areas. She muses it was probably due to her shinki form being a _panther_ out of all things, that she probably adapted cat-like characteristics as well.

Her ears twitch and her nose smells something... _nice_ nearby. She opens her eyes and sits up, following her nose to where the smell is coming from. Her eyes widen as she spots a figure in the distance, crouching down and marveling at the flower field in front of them.

From her distance, she can only see something like a white glow around the figure, it was almost like looking at an...angel. Maki would never admit that in public though.

She remains silent but slowly gets to her feet and approaches the figure. If it's a human, then she probably wouldn't be able to see her, but if this person does see her... Was it a no-name spirit? Another shinki?

As she gets closer, the figure turns into a smaller person; a somewhat frail looking brunette girl wearing a white dress, whose all smiles and gasps at the flower beds. "Umm..." Maki somehow makes a noise from her mouth (she swears she tries not to growl like her shinki form), and this is more than enough for the girl to turn around with a quick squeak.

Different shades of violet clash and Maki blinks in surprise as the girl raises her hand, index and middle finger poised to draw a line between them— _boundary_ ; Maki recognizes the common spell. So this girl is a shinki then...

The brunette is shaking a little, but when Maki makes no move, she slightly lowers her hands, "Y...You can see me?" The girl asks quietly, her voice almost like a mouse.

Maki slowly nods her head, watching the girl breathe a sigh of relief and drop her stance. "I-I'm sorry, N-Ni-my master" she quickly corrects herself, making the red head raise a brow, "says that I need to always be careful."

Maki places a hand on her hip, "It sounds like you have an over protective Master."

The girl giggles, and Maki blinks, the sound pleasant to her ears. "She is. She and Ri-... another friend are very protective." She turns her back to Maki, kneeling down and touching the flower petals that dance around her slender fingers. "Their protectiveness drives me to become stronger, so in turn, one day I can protect them."

Maki snorts softly as her violet eyes tilt upwards, towards the blue sky and white, fluffy clouds. "... Sounds nice." She mutters. The girl pats down her white dress, before standing up to face Maki with a bright smile. "You feel the same way, don't you? I-I mean..." She slowly raises a hand, pointing at Maki.

Maki looks down, and realizes she's pointing out her clothes-the dark uniform that Eli's combat shinki wears, and she suddenly flushes. "T-This is..." She starts to brush the uniform off, pulling and tugging at the ends of her jacket. The red head never realized that her uniform could represent her closeness with Eli.

The girl giggles again as she lowers her hand, "You're one of Eli-sama's closest shinki, right?"

The red head is embarrassed, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly before she nods. The girl's smile widens, "Everyone is so distinct with that uniform, so it's easy to point out." She giggles at Maki's bashful face.

Maki wants to say something in her defense, but a poppy pop song suddenly chimes and the girl pulls out some sort of electronic device (Maki recognizes it as something like a phone, but she didn't keep up with the modern times all that much). A few buttons is pushed, and the girl pockets the device. "Sorry, that was my Master. It looks like we have a job."

She bows her head respectfully, before straightening herself out. "Maybe we can see each other another time... umm..." Her statement trails off, as they both realized that neither of them knew the other's name.

"M... Maki." The red haired shinki blurts out, and her breath is lost at the warm smile the other girl has on her face. "Maki-chan, then!" With a wave, she rushes off in the opposite direction, leaving Maki alone with the flower bed she was tending to earlier.

Maki stares at the flowers, and can't help but ponder about how pretty they were.

* * *

When Eli dismisses Maki for the day, the red head slinks out of her office with her hands shoved in her uniform pockets. Eli spends a lot of time with Nozomi as of lately doing research and observations. She's unsure of why Eli is spending a lot of time observing the area-it's as if she's looking for something.

Or _someone_.

The red head pushes those thoughts away, Eli will be fine—she knows what she is doing. She also has Nozomi and the rest of them after all.

Maki steps outside as she looks at the time-there's still a lot of time before evening will fall. She thinks about what she should do, with it still being midday, the shrine is still bustling with activity, so it was far from quiet...

She remembers a quiet spot with a certain brunette girl and descends down the shrine steps.

* * *

"Oh! Maki-chan!

Maki hears a voice call out to her as she arrives in the flower field. She gives the brunette girl a small wave before sitting down next to her. "You're here again." She states as she lies down amongst the flowers (while trying not to crush them).

The brunette girl smiles as she goes back to arranging the flower patch in front of her. "My Master and my friend are doing some work at a shrine today because they caused some trouble for the God. So I was allowed to go on my own today." She says with a slight giggle. Maki just nods absentmindedly as her violet eyes stare up at the sky above them, enjoying the simple beauty.

"Sounds troublesome." She mumbles, eyes wandering to the brunette next to her. The girl just laughs, "I think it's fun. Even if they sometimes go a bit crazy." She pauses for a moment as she thinks fondly of her memories with her Master and her friend.

Curiously, her gaze goes to the red head next to her, whose already staring at her. When their gazes meet, they both immediately 'eep' and turn away from each other immediately. A slight blush is on both of their faces, and the atmosphere is still.

Maki hears a quiet apology from the girl, and she just mutters 'likewise'.

"S-So u-umm... Maki-chan... W-Why are you here today?" The brunette asks quietly as she dangles a stem of one of the flowers. Maki shuts her eyes as she listens to everything around them. She takes a few seconds to think of her answer.

"It was too busy at my shrine. I wanted some peace and quiet."

The brunette girl nods a little, "Eli-sama has a lot of shinki, right?"

"Mm." Maki's face slightly grimaces as she thinks about the vast amounts of shinki Eli had and the toll it takes on her Master. It goes unseen by the brunette, and Maki's slightly relieved. Maki rolls over onto her side as she watches the girl tend to the flowers again. She can't help but wonder, "Do you err... enjoy gardening?"

 _Real smooth, Maki_ , she ends up grumbling to herself after. The girl blinks in surprise as she looks at the red head who's staring up at her. The brunette giggles as she places a flower through the tresses of Maki's red hair. "I really like flowers." She pauses as she returns her gaze to the flower field with a smile, "They're important to me."

The brunette's gaze fall upon Maki who gingerly touches the petals in her hair. "Do you know a lot about flowers, Maki-chan?" Maki shakes her head, and the brunette just smiles in response as she picks up a single flower and shows it to her.

They spend the rest of the afternoon together talking about flowers.

* * *

Some time passes by since Maki first met 'flower girl' (even though they've become 'friends' at this point, she still hasn't told Maki her name). They meet every so often by the flower beds, in which the other shinki tells Maki about the different flowers, and she listens to her attentively.

Maki enjoys the other girl's company and always makes the effort to take some time in between her duties and protecting Eli to go see her. When she doesn't see her, she sits amongst the flowers and watches them along with the cloud with a satisfied smile on her face.

Maki makes to leave the shrine again, but before she descends the steps, she hears a pair of footsteps coming to her, and she turns around to see Eli and Nozomi. Eli has a smile on her face and Nozomi has a knowing grin that almost scares Maki. "Eli? What is it?" Maki asks when they're within earshot.

"You've been a lot happier lately." Eli says with a grin. Maki's brow furrows and she narrows her eyes a little. Nozomi speaks up before Maki can even ask anything, "We're her shinki, right Maki-chan? Everything we feel, Elicchi feels as well." Her voice is light and singsong-like. Maki feels a small blush rise to her cheeks, muttering 'shut up', but not denying Nozomi's words.

"I... I've just been going out, okay. N-Nothing has been happening!" Maki quickly blurts out before Eli or Nozomi could get the wrong idea. The God and the lead shinki giggle, "Just stay safe, okay Maki? You should also introduce us sometime to your friend."

Maki mumbles something incoherent before she bolts down the steps to hide the blush on her face.

Eli and Nozomi giggle as they watch Maki disappear down the steps. Eli has a proud look on her face as she slips a hand against her waist and watches Maki's fading backside. "... She's definitely changing." She says to Nozomi, looking at the purple haired shinki with a smile. Nozomi raises a brow but giggles nonetheless, "You're like a proud Father, Elicchi."

"She's _my_ shinki, Nozomi! I can't help but feel a bit proud." The blonde God laughs.

When Maki's gone, Eli's face turns more serious as she looks over at the shinki next to her.

"Have you found the God of Death yet?"

* * *

By the time Maki arrives at their usual meeting spot, her entire face is red as her hair and she is somewhat short of breath. She sprinted the entire time after her short encounter with Eli and Nozomi, and she couldn't get their words out of her mind. When her brunette friend sees Maki slightly hunched over, she stands up in concern.

"Maki-chan? Is everything okay?"

Maki looks up, her face burning up again, but quickly looks away, covering herself. "I-I-I'm fine! N-Nothing happened!" She shouts rather hastily, grumbling 'Stupid Eli' underneath her breath. Her friend blinks, but just smiles with a small 'okay' and turns around to tend to the flower bed again.

When she feels like her blush has died off, Maki approaches the brunette, and plops herself down next to her, watching her care for the flowers. Her dark violet eyes spot the bandages wrapped around her hands though, and she narrows them slightly. "... Did you get hurt?"

"Ah." The girl squeaks as she draws back her hands a little. She fidgets for a few minutes under Maki's gaze, and slowly nods. "I-It was nothing... J-Just a few blights from our last job..." Her voice is hushed and she's mumbling quietly. Maki outstretches her hand, and takes the girl's hands in her own to look at the wounds more closely.

"Your master should take better care of you." Maki finally says after she lets go of the hands. They were cleansed and cleaned properly so there was no major damage. The girl blinks, as one of her hands clenches into a fist, "I-It wasn't my Master's fault! I... I... I protected her." She explains as she looks at her hands again.

"As long as my Master is safe, then my life..."

"Don't say that!" Maki finds herself saying as she stares at the girl with a hard look. The girl squeaks in surprise, shrinking a little at the look Maki is giving her. Maki narrows her eyes, "Protecting your Master is fine! It's amiable even how much you dedicate your life to her! But don't be _so_ reckless!"

The words tumble out of Maki's mouth and if she stop for a second to think about them, she would just run away in embarrassment. Her hands tighten themselves into a fist, "E-Even though we've already passed on, someone has given us a second chance... Even if we can't exist amongst humans, we can... we can still live." Nico and Eli's images flash in front of her for a brief moment as she remembers the two Gods that gave her a second chance.

The brunette is silent for a moment, and suddenly takes Maki's hands into her own, squeezing them gently. "... Thank you, Maki-chan."

Maki blinks in response, and feels her cheeks heat up again at the contact. "I-I uh... I-I didn't mean to say all of that, uh..." She starts to stutter and almost pulls away when she squeezes her hands. It takes a few seconds for Maki to calm down and just enjoy the small contact.

The girl smiles brightly at her, "I'll be careful from now on. I swear upon it on my name that my Master has given to me." Her voice trails off slightly, and she mumbles something that Maki barely catches. Maki tilts her head a little, looking at her questioningly.

"... Hanayo?" Maki repeats quietly. The girl pulls a hand away, and presses her index finger against her lips as a hush. "That's my name. Let's keep it a secret for now, my Master might get mad if she knows I told you."

Maki slowly nods, and her eyes drift a little, spotting the character 'hana' etched on Hanayo's shoulder through the open neckline of her white dress. She smiles, _flower_ she thinks, _how fitting_.

* * *

What started off as a simple patrol became a hunt.

Maki, in her shinki form, cranes her head to the left as she spots a wave of black particles spiraling in the air. She sniffs the air, and recognizes the scent of ayakashi and...

"It's her."

Nozomi's voice can be heard throughout the shinki that Eli is carrying, and Maki feels Eli tense above her. Eli brings a hand up, clutching onto the shrine charm around her neck that was Nozomi, "... Are you sure, Nozomi?"

"You're doubting me now, Elicchi?"

There's a hint of playfulness in Nozomi's tone, but it was over-arched with seriousness. Eli smirks before she leaps off of Maki's back. "We strike now. The God of Death cannot continue to exist." She says to her Shinki. The blonde pats the hilt of the sword on her hip, "Stay sharp, Honoka."

"I-I will, Eli-chan!"

Eli looks over at the panther, and nods. "Maki you'll ambush her, but be on your guard, you know how slippery Nico can be." She warns.

Maki growls lightly, "Eli, are you sure about this?"

Eli just steps forward, pulling her hat down a little, "... We finish this hunt now." She mumbles, before leaping forward towards the storm that was starting to fade away. Maki watches her Master silently, and sighs. "Just don't be reckless, Eli." She mumbles to herself, before leaping forward herself.

* * *

From the top of the building, Maki watches the battle wage on between Eli and Nico. Her ears slightly twitch and she almost sighs heavily at the insults that go back and forth between the two. Of how childish the insults were, it seemed like they were almost like bickering siblings than two Gods waging war at each other.

"From above!"

Maki raises her head quickly when she hears Nozomi's warning to Eli. Nico had disappeared right outside of Honoka's range, suddenly above Eli. Reacting quickly and on instinct, Maki jumps from the building with a roar, batting Nico away before she can strike Eli down with Rin.

"Maki!"

Eli shouts as the panther lands in front of the blonde, growling. Maki looks back slightly, narrowing her eyes, "Think properly and listen to Nozomi!" She snaps at her, knowing how reckless Eli was fighting before. Maki turns her head back to Nico who was picking herself up from the ground.

"Well, looks like the kitty came to play."

"Hi Maki-chan!"

Maki twitches as she snaps at Rin now, "We're enemies, don't say hi!"

She watches Nico grin as she wipes away the dirt at the corner of her face. "Enemies, huh. You've grown up, wittle ol' Maki-chan." Maki swears that everyone was out to tease her for the last few weeks as she just growls lowly in response. Nico poises the katana in front of her that is Rin and grins.

Maki bounds forward with a loud roar, leaping at Nico to take her down. Before her fangs could sink into the God's shoulder, Nico twists herself around, "Come, Keki!"

In a brilliant flash, a small, dagger like blade formed in Nico's other hand, and Maki barely hears Nozomi's warning as she ducks away from the sharp edge, feeling it graze her cheek. Her eyes widen-at that single moment, she saw a flash of very familiar violet. Nico kicks Maki away at her hesitation, and she is sent backwards.

Maki hears Eli scream her name, before she spots the blonde rushes forward, clashing with Nico once more. The panther is slowly raising back onto her feet, shaking off the dizziness that came from the kick. She can hear Nico's gloat from her heated clash with Eli.

"You're not the only one with a new shinki, Eli! With both Rin and _Hanayo_ , I'll become the best God! Or at least better than you!"

The name, Hanayo, echoes in Maki's mind.

All her memories with the brunette in the flower field rushes to her mind, as she thinks about all the different things they were talking about. Of course, why didn't she put it together...

Why didn't she figure out that Hanayo is Nico's shinki?

Maki watches from the sidelines, dumbfounded at what she just discovered. Her instincts are yelling at her though, as she watches Eli struggle against Nico. Before there was no clear victor in between their numerous of fights, but today, even with Nozomi's guidance, victory was slipping away from their fingers.

Maki's claws sink into the ground, she needed to get a grip.

She needed to protect Eli.

She watches as Eli is tossed backwards, and Nico goes in for the kill-and that's when she strikes, because that's when Nico's defense would be at its lowest.

At a startling speed, Maki dashes at Nico, and leaps forward to sink her fangs into Nico.

This was to protect Eli.

 _This was to protect Eli._

She shut her eyes and waits for the metallic taste of blood to enter her mouth. Make opens her eyes and gasps—it feels like time froze at this point when she realizes-

She's not biting into Nico.

She's biting into _Hanayo_.

To everyone else watching the fight, they would see the dark red panther sinking her teeth into the dagger that Nico was using in her other hand, but to Maki, her face is digging into Hanayo's shoulder-because she is _biting_ Hanayo.

Hanayo raises her hands and wraps them around Maki's shoulders.

"... Hanayo..."

Maki manages to say, and she can feel tears silently fall. The brunette girl is quivering in her hold, but her arms are steady as they clutch onto her in an embrace. "I did it to protect her, like I said I would, Maki-chan."

Maki continues to cry and she feels herself tighten her jaw, Hanayo crying out slightly in pain. "I'm... I'm so sorry... I'm so..." Maki is sobbing, but Hanayo continues to hold her, to comfort her in this twisted fate that happened.

"I understand. Because you would do everything to protect your Master too."

Hanayo's quivers are starting to lessen, and her grip around Maki starts to slack. She feels the brunette's head fall gently against her and Hanayo's last breathe touches her ears, "Thank you, Maki-chan."

Maki screams Hanayo's name as the panther's fangs clench down all the way and shatters the dagger.


End file.
